By Helen Tatchell<\/p>\n
It is common to hear the reason why people choose to live in Ballan, and for Michael Ryan and his wife Margaret, it is a familiar tale.<\/p>\n
Mr Ryan lived in Horsham for 37-years and now is clocking up six-years in Ballan, all because of the available health and business services, proximity to Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat, family and the access to train services.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of course, the climate,\u201d he said in jest.<\/p>\n
He is the new President of the Ballan & District Chamber of Commerce, neutral and comes with no history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the importance of small business in rural and regional communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe local community should, where practicable, support local businesses, by giving them an opportunity to provide their goods and services,\u201d he told the Moorabool News.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also important that businesses continue to provide high levels of customer service.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Horsham Rural City Councillor (2005-2012) and Mayor (2010, 2011) had a Chartered Accounting business that catered for mainly small business and farming clients. He employed 20-people.<\/p>\n
Mr Ryan has a vision for the next two-years, that includes purpose, direction and leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is to see if we are still relevant, we talk about representing the commercial sector if you like, providing opportunity, promoting industry in Ballan, and myself along with the new committee are looking at how we do that, the models have changed, social media and all that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy idea is to make sure people still want to be members of the chamber, for the networking and also for the learning and training opportunities. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is our challenge,\u201d Mr Ryan said. \u201cTo make sure that we are still an attractable organisation to be part of and come along too, there must be a purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
And a campaign to attract new members is on the agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is, what have we got to offer, why do people come out on a Tuesday in the middle of winter pay ex amount for a meal and go home thinking \u2018well I could do that on a Saturday night\u2019.<\/p>\n
We need to ask ourselves the question \u2018why would you do that\u2019 and get some answers to around the \u2018why\u2019. And I think that is our major challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Ryan is also encouraging people to share their business knowledge and information.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiscussions and opinions can\u2019t be adversarial all the time, In my short time in the chamber of commerce we haven\u2019t shared local stories enough; there are lots of good stories out there in the community and I think we should have a segment every meeting where a business person is asked to tell their story, Q&A for five minutes, and just share the knowledge, share the experience, it is not all good, but a lot of it is, we don\u2019t draw on our own resources enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Grasping the younger people in business with current IT, gadget and social media knowledge is a culture Mr Ryan is looking closely at.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur culture I think has to be about inclusiveness, include everybody. Young people today are more creative than I ever was, they have new skills and we need those to benefit the chamber. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe committee have to have the courage to make decisions and the chamber is an opportunity to meet together, we don\u2019t need a 5-star meal, just the opportunity to meet together.\u201d<\/p>\n
And finally, does see himself as a leader?<\/p>\n
\u201cI am quite happy to make decisions. I am quite happy to go and talk to people about anything that is \u2018getting up their nose\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month from 7pm.<\/p>\n
Next Meeting \u2013 Tuesday 18 February at The Plough in Myrniong.
\nThe March meeting will be held on Tuesday 17 March at the Gordon Hotel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Helen Tatchell It is common to hear the reason why people choose to live in Ballan, and for Michael Ryan and his wife Margaret, it is a familiar tale. Mr Ryan lived in Horsham for 37-years and now is clocking up six-years in Ballan, all because of the available health and business services, proximity […]<\/p>\n